Texas Governor's Race

With two months until the election, there are four major candidates in this November's race to be the Texas governor. The odd thing is, in a state as conservative as Texas, there is no real conservative candidate. Interesting enough, they are all of them who seem to be polling decent numbers. Perry has about 35%, with the other three having 15-20%.


Rick Perry - Incumbent, former Democrat. He's socially conservative staking a pro-life and anti-gay marriage platform. He got tort reform passed, which limited pain and suffering damages in medical melpractice suits. His two big flaws are his pro-illegal alien stance and the Trans Texas Corridor. The TTC is a $184 billion, yes billion, highway project. It's supposed to be big super highways that will carry expressways, rails, and utilities. $184 billion is the GDP of many countries. When has a government estimate of a project ever been completed on budget? That means, that $184 billion could be much more. It also involves a huge grab for land, 580,000 acres in total. They take land using emminent domain and can lease it or sell it to potential businesses along the corridor. Infrastructure and transportation are vital to a vibrant economy, but you have to look at the investment verses the potential returns (in gains to the economy, not taxes). He has the big-government Republican view on illegal immigration -- open borders. While some influx of immigrants is good, turning a blind eye to massive border crossing is not.

Chris Bell - He's your run of the mill liberal Democrat. Big government spending, high taxes. His website never mentions spending or taxes, so you know they are going up.

Carole Keeton McClellan Rylander Strayhorn - Texas Comptroller and another former Democrat. She doesn't use all those names, but has at one time or another in the past.On her website she doesn't have a platform, which I don't like. How can I vote for someone when I don't know where they stand? She claims to be a tax fighter but in an interview with Chris Matthews, she says "I am a common sense fiscal conservative. You know, I would rather pay $98 a month and insure a kid with prescription drugs and get that 72 percent match from the feds, rather than pay $6,700 for one hospital stay picked up by the property taxes going right through the roof. I am a common sense conservative. I would rather educate our kids than incarcerate our kids. " To me, that seems to be like a fake fiscal conservative. "We'll save more later if we spend more now" is not my idea of fiscal conservative. Besides, it's rare to meet any candidate who doesn't claim to be a fiscal conservative? She originally was a proponent of the TTC, but since entering the race, she has switched views. The 2002 Democratic nominee, Tony Sanchez, has endorsed her.

Kinky Friedman - The oddball candidate. He's has liberal social views, but takes the toughest stand on illegal immigration, the TTC, and isn't afraid to share his views frankly. While his concern for Texas children is admirable, it could lead to yet another state run healthcare program, which utimately gets abused. Insuring children shouldn't be that expensive, but leave it to the government to make it so. I don't like his stem cell research funding on fiscal grounds (and moral for embryonic research). If there are potential cures in stem cells, companies will fund the research. The problem with government funding, is that scientists could ulitmately know that there is no cures to be found in stem cells, but continue working because they are on the government dole. A company will seek results, while the government would continue to pour money into a dead issue for years.

Current Opinion
Perry is competent, but the long term effects of illegal immigration and the looming TTC could bankrupt the State. I am generally displeased with the big-government Republicans which have dominated Congress and their stance on illegal immigration. Many have had a "well, who else are you going to vote for attitude?" I can't vote for Bell or Strayhorn. Kinky is defintely odd and hold liberal social views. However, Perry could bankrupt the State, while Kinky's view of abortion is irrelevent as long as Roe vs. Wade is in effect. Kinky also could prove to be horribly incompetent. Decisions, decisions.